Flying

Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company hopes it has a sporting chance of attracting customers to a forthcoming variant of its Superjet SSJ100 airliner. Called the SportJet and scheduled for certification in 2018, the aircraft will target professional and amateur athletic teams’ charter flights. That’s a $600 million-per-year global market, according to the manufacturer.

The road to a supersonic business jet has been excruciatingly slow, and most who have taken a stab at developing one over the last four decades have either folded, used the venture to secure government research grants, or relegated it to the back burner in favor of more economically expedient projects.

Planning a trip to Antarctica, northern Scandinavia, or anywhere that promises frigid temperatures? If you dress in layers and pack the right gear, you can remain warm and comfortable throughout your visit.

A record-breaking 1,285 BJT subscribers responded to our 2016 Readers’ Choice survey—a 26 percent increase from last year. As promised, we have made a contribution on behalf of those subscribers to Corporate Angel Network, which arranges free flights on business aircraft to treatment centers for cancer patients and their families.

The views from a private jet can make for a sublime experience. You really do get the feeling of having “joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds” and “chased the shouting wind,” to quote Royal Canadian Air Force pilot John Gillespie Magee Jr.’s stirring 1941 sonnet, “High Flight.”

Recent constriction in the fractional space and changes within the remaining programs are stacking the deck against shareowners, curbing rights, and cutting once-standard benefits, contend a pair of consultants who represent share buyers.

Hourly maintenance plans for airframes, engines, and avionics have become a regular and often expected part of aircraft ownership. In exchange for a fee paid for each operating hour (and sometimes fixed fees as well), plan providers agree to cover certain or all scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, thereby bringing cost and performance surety to operations.

When you spend lots of time in business jets, you inevitably come to treasure certain technological solutions that make the airborne life more pleasant and productive. We asked five frequent fliers to tell us about their favorite on-board gear.

Almost 30 years after it first entered service, the Dassault Falcon 900 series remains in a class by itself; from its three-engine layout to its advanced computer design to its construction using lightweight alloys and composites, it is truly peerless.